Bridge of Reason

  How is a person made righteous before a Holy God? This was the big question at the time of the Reformation, and it continues to be the most important issue today. Let us consider how the Jehovah’s Witnesses might answer, as I continue to review the Convention address by Brother David Schafer. This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: “I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself, The One guiding you in the way you should walk. If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:17-18 NWT Brother Schafer said that these verses from Isaiah teach us that imperfect human beings can have a righteous standing before God. He claimed that the peace that righteousness brings is achieved by obedience to Jehovah’s commandments. What he fails to mention is that these verses were given to the people of Israel and should be, at least in the ...

  A discussion on this subject will often come up in an attempt to witness about the gospel and surprisingly enough not only from cult members. Many other people feel they must do things to 'be good' or earn the right 'to go to heaven'. Indeed, there are some apparent indications in Scripture that on first reading would indicate that works are necessary for salvation and we must be able to answer these questions satisfactorily. There will be those who are deeply religious that would also bring this question up because they would feel that they are saved by their good works of prayer and worship and even 'going to church'. Sometimes these people will just be trying to justify themselves or testing us but even so in similar circumstances Jesus gave a sensible and reasoned answer (see Luke 10:25 and 29) and we should seek to do the same. JAMES 2 The main verses used to seek to win this argument are found in James 2:24-26 and read in the NASB,  "You see tha...

  “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23 As we continue to look at Elder Dunn’s recent talk to General Conference, we see that his theme follows that common Mormon mantra – do more and be better. As someone who was once part of a group that emphasised the need to save ourselves, I feel for those, like the Mormons, who are constantly being told to try harder, work longer and jump higher to please God. Following his illustration of how the British Men’s Cycling Team achieved success, Elder Dunn suggests that Mormons can follow suit by breaking the different areas of their lives into parts and then they should consider how they may be one percent better in those areas. By implementing this strategy, he says, Mormons will make significant gains in their striving to be perfect; and perfect they must b...

  For our latest Watch Tower Wednesday on Facebook we were again in the Examining the Scriptures Daily - 2022 where, for January 4, we read: 'The apostle Paul said that all true Christians are in a race. (Heb. 12:1) And all of us, young or old, energetic or tired, must endure to the end if we want to receive the prize that Jehovah offers us. (Matt. 24:13) Paul had freeness of speech because he had successfully “run the race to the finish.” (2 Tim. 4:7), But what, especially, is the race that Paul spoke about? Paul sometimes used features from the games held in ancient Greece to teach important lessons. (1 Cor. 9:25-27; 2 Tim. 2:5) On a number of occasions, he used running as in a footrace to illustrate the Christian course of life. (1 Cor. 9: 24; Gal. 2:2; Phil. 2:16) A person enters this “race” when he dedicates himself to Jehovah and gets baptized. (1 Pet. 3:21) He crosses the finish line when Jehovah grants him the prize of everlasting life.—Matt.25:31-34, 46; 2 Tim. 4:8. w20.04...

  In my latest Watch Tower Wednesday on the Reachout Facebook page I asked, ‘what is Salvation?’ On their website Jehovah’s Witnesses say salvation seems conflicted between ‘God’s gift’ of salvation and the Bible injunction to Christians to live a saved life. They write: ‘To gain salvation you must exercise faith in Jesus and demonstrate that faith by obeying his commands – Acts 4:10,12; Romans 10:9; Hebrews 5:9. You can read the Watch Tower article here . This is a struggle many have when they try and square the idea of a gift with the idea of works? How would you discuss this issue with a Jehovah's Witness? How would you reconcile Eph.2:8,9, ' By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God,' with James 2:24-26, 'Faith without works is dead?' What hope and assurance can you bring a Jehovah's Witness? I am grateful to Dawn Llisone for providing as good and clear an answer as you will find to help resolve ...

  'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ Acts 16:31 A typical reaction to the good news of Jesus Christ, is, ‘There must be more to it than that. It can’t be that easy.’ This is one of the appealing things about the cults. People think they can earn, at least in part, this great gift from God we call salvation. Along comes someone with a message that affirms this and they get caught on the treadmill of works-based salvation. If someone thinks the Christian Gospel is easy, they are hearing it wrong, usually because it is being wrongly told. Two serious errors must be avoided when telling and hearing the Gospel. It is possible to so emphasise the free gift of God in texts such as Romans 3:21-26; 6:23; 10:9 that we teach a type of ‘Corinthianism.’ The church in Corinth had adopted a doctrine of licence in practically everything, from the way they conducted their public lives and services to the way they practised their personal relationships (1 Cor.1:10-19; 5:1-6:...

  Over the past month we have looked, in Faith, Works and Foot Washing , at what the Bible actually means when it says faith saves. In Faith, Works and Philosophers , we have looked at the folly of the world’s wisdom as we see it exemplified in Mormonism, comparing it with ‘the foolishness of the cross.’ In Faith, Works and Followers , we considered the essential part works do have to play in the life of every true follower of Christ, confounding Jehovah’s Witnesses, who think we don’t care for witnessing. We went on, in Faith, Works and Fallacy , to deal with the role of the law in bringing us to an understanding of sin and our need of a Saviour. Now we come to see how, for some, faith doesn’t seem to work, while for others it changes everything. Among the cults i t is believed that Christians make too much of faith and not enough of works. They seem to think we are selective Bible readers (oh, the irony) wilfully blind to the countless texts that call us to lives of sacrific...

There is an argument I see coming up time and again, from Mormons and others, even from within the body of Christ, that the law that doesn’t save is the Law of Moses. Paul in Romans writes: ‘ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin’ (Ro.3:20, NIV) ‘ For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.’ (Ro.3:20, ESV) The fallacy arises when people fail to understand the role of the law in salvation. The argument is made that we are not saved by Moses, by the ceremonies of the cult of the temple, by the civil law peculiar to the nation of Israel. Nevertheless adherence to the eternal statutes of God contained in the Ten Commandments do have a role to play in the saving of men and women. The fallacy arises when people fail to understand the role of the law in salvation. The text makes t he same distinction but to reach a ver...